Seeking Combat Advice

Hello everyone! I've been enjoying Achaea so much recently that I decided to invest into multiclassing as a shaman. So far, I really enjoy it! Conceptually the combat is really cool, the utility is neat, and the roleplay really clicks with me. The problem being, I only have a vague concept of the combat, as my first class (2h runie) doesn't afford me a very deep background in affliction-based combat.

From what I think I understand, we have tzantza, locking, and inflame as kill options. I've tried each, and have managed only inflame. I struggle to stick very many afflictions on anyone at any given point, and properly curing hemophilia shuts me down so hard it's kinda funny. So! Clearly I don't know what I'm doing. Would someone be so kind as to help me gain a proper understanding of shaman combat? Namely, how to stick afflictions and turn that into a lock or tzantza, and how to successfully inflame against hemophilia prio if this is at all possible. I'll admit, if I could do nothing but inflame, I totally would. That skill makes me extremely happy.

Thank you!

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Best Answers

You're going to have to learn general affliction theory to manage to stick afflictions more. Learn herb balance, learn your own balances, and make a chart of how optimal curing would cure vs how you would afflict. You'll notice that you afflict faster than they can cure, as long as you're either swiftcursing or curse/jinxing, which means they have to pick what they're curing and you should adapt to what you think they'll cure.

From what I think I understand, we have tzantza, locking, and inflame as kill options. I've tried each, and have managed only inflame. I struggle to stick very many afflictions on anyone at any given point, and properly curing hemophilia shuts me down so hard it's kinda funny. So! Clearly I don't know what I'm doing. Would someone be so kind as to help me gain a proper understanding of shaman combat? Namely, how to stick afflictions and turn that into a lock or tzantza, and how to successfully inflame against hemophilia prio if this is at all possible. I'll admit, if I could do nothing but inflame, I totally would. That skill makes me extremely happy.

So from your post I understand that you have some idea of the kill paths you have available, but aren't aware specifically about the options available to get there. I'm going to mainly address the underlying strategy and assumptions here. In regard to the problem you have with sticking afflictions, you should discuss that issue with someone in an organization you're in. The most obvious path is to make sure your opponent has paralysis, and then if you have balance when they have paralysis then you afflict something else.

From your post I think the biggest problem you're having is a lack of focus on vodun at all. A shaman doesn't necessarily need to do any afflictions prior to attempting a kill, specifically because of vodun. For instance, you mention that curing haemophilia really shuts you down, but it shouldn't. Whenever I see an opponent curing haemophilia I'm neutral or happy about it, mainly because inflame is an uninteresting kill path. When an opponent cures haemophilia, they are not curing paralysis, so you have additional breathing room, which can be used to your advantage. On top of that, if you have been using bloodlet properly they are now spending a significant chunk of their mana clotting away the bleeding. Therefore, you should be soulrend/jinxing instead of swiftcuring when you see this, ideally sticking impatience/dizziness to slow their mana recovery (impatience halves mana recovery from elixir sip and possibly moss/potash) and keep them around in order to get as many soulrends while you are keeping affliction pressure up as possible (you could also switch to doing pure soulrend curses with no jinxes, but this tends to leave you vulnerable and completely destroys your momentum).

Another point above is that Shaman has no need of haemophilia in order to lock, and that means there's another path here under certain conditions. If you already have a 20 fashion doll, you can soulscourge gecko (for slickness) to finish a lock instead of coagulating. By curing haemophilia, your opponent has now made themselves one affliction closer to lock, and also reduced the amount of pressure on you offensively, allowing you to have a much easier time completing lock with soulscourge.

Tzantza as a kill path without a lock is for show, I wouldn't worry about it. As above, inflame is meant as pressure to force people to clot, which enables soulrend and an easier lock path. The final point I could make here is to investigate strategies that don't make heavy use of curses, but are centered around vodun. Things such as vodun slow into curse asthma relapse asthma (or blight asthma) followed by vodun slow are very effective. If you regain balance before your opponent has cured aeon, you have effectively won the fight, since you can keep them from curing asthma indefinitely with swiftcurse and then build up afflictions into a lock.

As a final point, my go-to staple for kills is rather advanced, but worth learning. There are ways in which to force a lock by sticking impatience/anorexia when your opponent is off salve balance from applying restoration to a mangled limb. If you first mangle a couple limbs, time a proper relapse and stick impatience/anorexia just after they apply restoration, they will be unable to cure until their salve balance comes back up, giving you 1-2 balances to complete a lock. I won't go into details about how to accomplish this - practice with a friend!

@Dochitha You can always try and recruit Neraka IC, but know in advance, it's going to be very difficult.

Update though! Ran through some libraries, talked to some people, and now I at least have a semblance of a clue what I'm doing. Progress! I just never feel like I'm using vodun to it's full potential. All I know to do with dolls is limb breaks and soulscourge imbibe slickness. Also don't feel like I could tzantza without a lock with my current knowledge.

@Dochitha You can always try and recruit Neraka IC, but know in advance, it's going to be very difficult.

Update though! Ran through some libraries, talked to some people, and now I at least have a semblance of a clue what I'm doing. Progress! I just never feel like I'm using vodun to it's full potential. All I know to do with dolls is limb breaks and soulscourge imbibe slickness. Also don't feel like I could tzantza without a lock with my current knowledge.

I don't really recruit. But still feel free to hit me up with your questions.

@Amranu Woah!! Thank you so much! I've actually been practicing that advanced kill you mentioned with the resto apply since my IC tutors made me aware of it. I've only gotten it once but it was so incredibly satisfying. You're definitely right about my not giving vodun enough focus. As for haemophilia... I still think inflame is incredibly fun purely based on the visual of setting someone's blood on fire, but I've learned to only really threaten inflame and never actually do it (unless they let me) because other kill paths are more reliable. I was way too insistent on inflame because at the time locks didn't make sense. They do now though!